LEONID FRECHKOP : PORTRAIT OF HIS WIFE

This beautiful portrait of a lady was made by her husband the Belgo-Russian painter Leonid Frechkop (1897-1982).

Frechkop was born in Moscow where he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Art under C. Korovine, A. Arkhipov and N. Kassatkine until 1920. In 1922 the artist received the Prix de Rome.

Frechkop moved to Paris in the early 1920s and later settled in Brussels where many institutions have collected his work such as the Cabinet des Estampes. The Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou and museums in Dinant and Ixelles have also collected Frechkop’s work.

Considered primarily a Belgian artist, Frechkop was influenced by the ideals of Neue Sachlichkeit and Néo Réalisme. He was also largely influenced by the Italian Renaissance and the painter Hans Holbein. In 1983 and 1987 the Galerie L’Oeil in Brussels exhibited a small catalogue of the Frechkop’s work.

The artist is listed in many major publications of French and Belgian artists such as Benezit, Arto, Le Dictionnaire des Peintures Belges and Piron. Several significant oil paintings of female nudes by Frechkop have sold successfully at Christie’s Amsterdam since the artist’s death.

This picture is an oil on canvas and measures 31½ x 27½ in. (80 x 69.7 cm.). It was estimated between $6,100 and $9,200 and went on auction in London for $ 8,054 in November 2008.